Two types of water closets had been patented by the end of the 18th century--Cummings' in 1775 and Bramah's in 1778. These marvelously simple fixtures ended the inconvenience of the garden privy and the nastiness of the chamber pot which had burdened mankind for so long. No matter how elegant chamber pots were fashioned or how well hidden in furniture or behind screens, they remained the butt of jokes and rude remarks. By the late 1800's, the indoor vitreous enamel water closet was painted with chrysanthemum and other flower patterns, perhaps a vestigial reminder of more pleasant outdoor surroundings from which this lowly device descended. The reticence of displaying bathroom fixtures remains to this day with the building of special rooms cloaked with the euphemism "bath" room and with the fixtures themselves partially covered by plush fabric fitted to the water tank and the seat cover. The uncovered poreclain enamel bowl, however, remains a highly visible reminder of the identity of the fixture.